In recent years, the CDU has strongly criticized the center-left 'traffic light coalition'. According to the latest opinion polls, the CDU could become the largest party. In that case, a coalition with the SPD would be logical, though it is uncertain whether this 'grand coalition' would achieve a majority.
For this reason, SPD and Greens want to clarify their position with the CDU. Chancellor Scholz wants to know from CDU leader Merz whether he supports his economic recovery plan for the car industry, as well as the increase of the minimum wage and investments in new highways and rail lines.
Agriculture Minister Cem Ă–zdemir maintains his proposal to halve the use of chemical agents in agriculture and to establish contractually binding assurances for dairy farmers. Additionally, the proposal to expand the pork welfare label will be on the negotiation table before the end of February. This animal welfare label in the German pork industry would then apply not only to meat sold in stores but also in hospitality, restaurants, and canteens.
Meanwhile, under enormous time pressure, preparations for the early Bundestag elections on February 23 are in full swing in Germany. The farmers' party Deutsch-Land-Wirtschaft (DLW), founded in May in the state of Brandenburg, has announced it will not participate in the national elections. In the regional elections last September, that party received barely half a percent of the votes.
Due to the complex German electoral system, little can yet be said about a possible new German coalition. Because of the five percent electoral threshold, it is uncertain whether the liberal FDP (which is more or less seen as responsible for the coalition break) will return to the Bundestag.
It is also unclear if Die Linke will maintain support above the threshold and whether newcomer BĂĽndnis Sahra Wagenknecht (BSW) can register in time everywhere. This requires collecting hundreds of support declarations in each of the nearly 300 constituencies.
According to the latest polls, CDU/CSU could become the largest party with over 30 percent, followed by SPD with about 15 percent and the Greens with 12 percent. The far-right AfD is also expected to become a very large party, but nearly all other parties have ruled out forming a coalition with the AfD. Recently, regional governments have been formed in two eastern states comprising CDU, BSW, and AfD, but at the federal level, a CDU and SPD coalition is far more likely, possibly with a smaller third party.